Ditch Your Cable Company With Free, Legal Alternatives
Feb. 16th, 2008 | by Dave Drager |Ditching your cable company has never been more viable than it is today. The rise of online, streaming TV shows allows you to save on one of the most expensive household bills if you are willing to sacrifice a bit of the convenience of having either a cable box or DVR. The main question you will need to ask yourself is what shows you actually enjoy watching. Several name brand shows are now available online in free, ad supported formats; if your particular shows are not available then you may be stuck with your cable company, at least for now. More and more shows are always coming online, so keep checking back to see if your favorite show is available.
1. Joost
Joost, formerly known at the Venice Project, is the undertaking of the creators of Skype and Kazaa. Using P2P protocol to deliver its video, it is a free, legal video service. Joost is currently in deals with several networks including CBS, VH1, MTV, other Viacom channels as well as several other video distribution networks. Joost’s interface is one of the best around, and is meant for a ‘big screen’. It is workable via mouse, keyboard, or remote control. The strong point of Joost is it’s interface and its content that is available so far. A sampling of currently available shows:
- Star Trek: The Original Series
- Jericho
- CSI
- MacGyver
- GiJoe
- Several VH1 Shows
TopFifth Gear- Punk’d
The weakness of Joost is also its content. Although there is a huge amount of content available, it is mainly niche content and is not very attractive for a large audience. Since there is so much content it is necessary to wade through much of it to find the gems. If Joost can get additional deals with other networks, it could really be the cable killer. However, since cable systems own stake in many distribution companies, I have a feeling that they are not very anxious to get their content online. Therein lies the problem - not a technical one but a political and dollars and cents problem.
Joost is in ‘beta’ but is now open and available for all to download at http://www.joost.com.
2. Hulu
Hulu is where it’s ‘at’ if you want to watch many of your favorite shows online. It is a project of NBC Universal and News Corporation and is currently in private beta. If you want me to send you an invitation I currently have 10 invites - please add your email to the comments area and I will send one off. If I have used my invites up - please use InviteShare to get an invite.
The single biggest feature and draw of Hulu is the volume of shows available. Not all content is available but a handful of currently airing shows are available to stream, as well as a multitude of ‘Clips’. Shows currently available include (but are not limited to):
- The Office
- Family Guy
- Saturday Night Live
- American Gladiators
- Prison Break
- The Simpsons
- It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
- House
As you can see - it is an impressive offering. Hulu also allows you to embed whole shows or clips into your website in a YouTube-esq fashion.
The downside (isn’t there always one!!) is that the interface isn’t the greatest. It is pretty apparent that this is meant to be a small screen offering; you need your mouse to navigate the shows.
Hulu offers a multitude of shows and therefore in my own eyes is the best video site currently out there. They are always adding more shows and as it moves out of beta we may see more providers sign on.
3. Episodes via Network Websites
The television networks are now streaming a lot of their content onto their own individual websites. Remember the writer’s strike that recently settled? That is what it was all about - the writers were not getting a fair share of online ad revenue.
Dealing with each individual network is a pain but if you know where to look there is a lot of content available.
This is a sampling of ABC shows are available:
- Lost (HD)
- Grey’s Anatomy
- Ugly Betty
- According to Jim
Shows such as:
- Real World/Road Rules Challenge
- My Sweet 16
- The Hills
Discovery Channel/TLC/Animal Planet
- Dirty Jobs
- SmashLab
- FlipThatHouse
There are too many networks to list all of them, but check out the website of your favorite network and see if they offer streaming shows online. You’ll be surprised to find that many of them do!
4. Miro
Miro player is technically a video player. It does not have any direct content, so you need to be able to add content to it using RSS feeds.
Using its directory there are a plethora of Video podcasts available, such as Diggnation, Tekzilla, CBS News and much more. Adding this content to Miro is easy, however shows must be downloaded before you can watch them. Miro will gladly run in the background and download new shows as they are available. However, this can quickly add up to a lot of disk space lost, so you may want to customize your settings to only keep a few shows at a time.
The Killer feature of Miro is the integrated BitTorrent client. It allows you to set up an RSS feed of episodes which it will then automatically monitor and download. One such site that offers these types of RSS feeds is tvrss.net.
So about that television provider…
As you can tell, the choices available for replacing your television provider are really getting viable. Although nothing beats plopping down in front of the television after a long hard day at work, products such as Joost almost replace your current set top box and actually Joost is rumored to be working with hardware providers on creating a Joost set top box. DVR functionality isn’t quite there yet; but with content being on-demand on many of the sites above, replacing a DVR may work for many people.
Have you already made the cut? Please let us know about your experiences with ditching your cable company!
_ _ _ _ _
UPDATE 1: (Hulu Invites)
Hi folks,
My name is Christina and I work at Hulu. I noticed a bunch of readers were interested in getting Hulu beta invites. We’ve created a page at www.hulu.com/beta/makeuseof that will provide the first 500 users a Hulu beta invitation. Just submit your email address and we will send you an automated email with your temporary login and password. We hope you will enjoy!
Let us know what you think after you check it out. feedback@hulu.com
UPDATE 2: Sorry guys, all invites are already gone.
_ _ _ _ _
(By) Dave is an IT Manager by day and technology consultant by night. He is interested in all things internet but is specifically interested in system administration, network security, history, and backpacking. He lives near Philadelphia with his family. See his blog @ www.systembash.com.
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Great article. I knew about Joost, but I never heard of hulu before. If you still have some invites left, could I snag one for hulu? With the network websites, you left out Fox. Fox allows you to view their shows a day after they air.
Streaming TV Episodes is the best site that I’ve found for looking up where to find television shows online. It links to most of the networks full episode players. The site also has many TV episodes from HULU available for those of you that don’t have HULU accounts. Sorry I’ve no HULU invites though :/
Could I get a Hulu invite?
Sent!
Well those are all fine but Joost is not worth your time, Miro is overrated, Hulu is great but it’s only for US (they don’t update as often as I’d like). Plus these aren’t real cable alternatives, they’re not live most you just have to hope that your show becomes available and you have to watch right then and there (as in 2 days to watch it before it gets deleted)
I highly recommend (because it’s free) FreeTube( http://www.freetube.us.tc ), it’s a more realistic cable solution, lets you watch certain TV channels in live video. So you can watch CNN or NBC as it airs - again you have to catch the schedules and watch what’s on at that point but at least you’re not left wondering whether it’s going to work or not and it’s not geo-restricted. All you need is windows media player or quicktime or an alternative plugin.
There are a few bugs to it, like there’s no schedules yet but it definitely works great.
Try out http://www.freetube.us.tc , it’s an actual real cable alternative and it’s completely FREE to use.
hi,
can i get a invite to that web site hulu please
my email adderss is BOOTS507@GMAIL.COM
thank you,
Gerri
Could I also have an invite to Hulu please?
Sent your invite!
Can I get a Hulu invite please
Just sent your invite.
Never knew about any of these sites. Thanks for the heads up. I wouldn’t mind an invite to hulu too please.
Thanks
Invite sent Cedric!
There are also free alternatives using free2air satellite setups. Not an internet based solution, but worth looking into
This is a great post.
Could I also have an invite to hulu?
Martin, invite sent!
can i have invitation to HULU
rhetoricsophist@yahoo.com
Sent! Enjoy.
Pls can i have invitation to HULU
sudhir_gonu@yahoo.com
love your site…..spare a hulu invite? thanks
Draven: I received this message: This email address has already been associated with a Hulu account.
Looks like you already have one!
Can you send me a Hulu invite also?
Thanks.
This email address has already been associated with a Hulu account.
Hey, do you think you could send me an invite?
Thanks,
RJ
P.S. Great Newsletter!
it’s really been quite a help
RJ: Received this message: This email address has already been associated with a Hulu account. Did you sign up or is the site having problems with the invitations?
thank you so much for this list. i have never subscribed to cable! if you still have invites left, i would like to try hulu. - pam
Pam: Invite sent!
Great post, if any are left could I get a Hulu invite please.
I signed up with InviteShare, and I believe I sent out a few invites to GrandCentral (but they’re not showing up yet). If it doesn’t work, I’ll return here to try to get one.
[...] Click here to see full post! [...]
Great post, mind if i get one your hulu invites?
Sent Ryan!
Great post!
Can I get an invite?
Thanks!
Way back when I first signed on with suscom it wasn’t to bad, but when my bills started approaching a hundred dollars a month for cable internet and tv I called it quits. I have tried joost but wasn’t impressed. I have been looking to get in on Hulu since I heard about it and would appreciate an invite if you’ve got another to spare. Awesome and concise article thanks Dave.
-Zach
Invitation sent - I’m all out of Invites now! Thanks for the interest everyone. Please use Inviteshare to try to get invited to Hulu or any other of the private beta websites.
I’d really like to try Hulu (any invites left?). Thanks!
comments aren’t working.
if I’m tallying correctly. I missed the hulu invites by one invite
I’d like one if’ve you’ve got it
If one doesn’t count those already with accounts (and I’m tallying correctly as well), then there should be one invite left, which I’d really appreciate one as I’ve ditched cable due to cost here in SF and NBC broadcasts very poorly out of San Jose so I’m missing the shows that you wrote are available via Hulu. (I.e. Not to just “try out”, but to use fully and evangelize!)
Btw, kudos on a great article and website! Cheers!
1.I use Miro.
2.I like Hulu as well.
3.I hate Joost.
4.I hadn’t heard of ABC before.
could i get an invite if im not too late?
shoot too late, oh well. i’ll try invite share
Better yet get a cheap LCD TV and connect your PC to it - like this dude has his
( http://techavid.com ) .
He even details how to use his TV to surf the net! Thanks to stumbleupon this set up I cut the cord a few months ago!
Hulu Invite Please? Does it work on a mac?
mikeleejordan AT gmail.com
hi can i get a hulu invite? looks awesome.. chrisishere [at] gmail [dot] com
Probably already used up, but I would love a Hulu invite.
any Hulu invites left?
I like MyEasyTV.com, because its free and it has real live TV stations. Sites listed in the articles aren’t really giving you real TV stations
Got any Hulu invites left, if so id love to try that out… Thanks!
Hi,
Ditched my cable subscription almost a year ago. Stopped watching tv almost two years before that. Bought a Mac mini, hooked it up to the tv. Subscribed to a sh*t load of podcasts and since then: never a dull moment. I’m off cable for good (or as long as podcasts stay this spontaneous and fun as opposed to scripted crap on cable).
Henk.
with apple tv we are very close to this reality . . .
i mean im paying close to 130$ a month for TV . .
soo. . . im sure i can pay itunes less and get away with more . .
we’re close . .
I would love a hulu invite
surfthechannel.com > all =p
I know its not free, but Netflix offers unlimited online streaming for over 5000 shows and movies. As long as you have the one out at a time unlimited you can stream everything you want and they are adding stuff all the time.
can i have a hulu invite?
Could I get an invite to hulu??? sounds awesome.. ingenierovazquez@gmail.com
Could I please get a hulu invite as well?
Fancast - Same content as hulu, no invites needed. I don’t like the interface as much,
Great article, saved and dugged!
Can I get a Hulu invite too, please? joe.woah@gmail.com
I will pay it forward here, I hope everyone getting them are paying the favor forward… but for now, there is openhulu.com too.
Hulu Invite? Probably to late but what the hell…
nick.kelleher@gmail.com
Can I please have an invite please…Thanks for the great information even if you don’t have any..
Another one to mention is TVU Networks and its Broadcasting ability. You can have your own channel to stream whatever shows you want, or you could just get the player and check out all the other channels out there.
http://pages.tvunetworks.com/
TVU Player is what I use. 24/7 Real time Comedy Central, sports channels, SpikeTV, …
Hulu invite from anyone, please! I ditched cable and antenna TV, but I’m drowning in Netflix TV DVDs.
I’d rather just stream!
Invite PLEASE!
DavidStagno@Gmail.com
Can I get a Hulu invite please?
overkill4744@aol.com
I would love to give hulu a shot, if you have any invites left.
Cheers
could i get an invite to hulu
CAN SOMEONE PLEASE SEND ME AND INVITE TO HULU?
EMAIL IS SPEEDDEMON04@GMAIL.COM
THANKS A LOT
and is there any way to tap into the cable companies to get their broadcasting online for free?
[...] Enlace | Ver más opciones para ver TV de cable [...]
I would like Hulu Invite Code.
thezorch@gmail.com
Looking for a HULU invite. Please and thank you.
any chance i can get an invite to hulu
meyer31 AT gmail.com
invite anybody?
dumon[at]bluebottle[dot]com
thanks
Can I please have a HULU invite? Thanks a lot.
Using sites like http://www.wortharchiving.com allows one to download tv shows with expired copyrights legally.
invite please
thank you!
Could you kindly send me an invite to HULU
Thanks
byronswain@gmail.com
Brilliant post. Any chance you’ve an invite left?
Thanks
A big point is missing from this article. Almost all of these options are for residents of USA only.
I would be really grateful if someone sent a Hulu invite to me at Alejandrrroh@gmail.com
I’m going to try Invite Share but if I get an invite here I’ll gladly give my invites to the others from these comments.
Thanks
Can i get an invite to Hulu perchance?
Gamefreak059 (at) hotmail.com
thanks
Some awesome sites, tried Joost and it was alright, but does anyone have an invite to Hulu, invite share has a long list.
To send an invite click my name and it will take you to my contact page.
Thanks!
Invite to Hulu por favor?
jculbertson@gmail.com
Thanks….will definitely do the same.
I would be obliged for a Hulu invite. Can some one please send one my way? bradallen1@gmail.com
Thanks,
Bradley
hulu invite please…
speeddemon04@yahoo.com
i will send out invites to those who request them…
Likewise on the Hulu invite, if anyone has any - Sharing is caring!
Thanks a ton for the article!
robwgibbons@comcast.net
i use axisaccess
a how to film is on metacafe
i know is probably too late, but please hulu invite?
Would really appreciate an invite to HULU looks really kewl would luv to check it out.
In invite from anyone would be great!
jkcfp2b@hotmail.com
Thanks
I would also really appreciate a hulu invite.
Thanks
Could you send me an invite for Hulu? Thanks!!!
I’d love a Hulu invite.
We’re watching Joost right now on our tv and we love it. Anime, The Tick, Fantasy Island, World of Stupid…lots of stuff to watch if you’re into things other then the usual dregs.